Shopper marketing programs—a suite of tactics including in-store displays, coupons, product sampling and more—started to gain momentum in the 1950s when consumer brands and mass media emerged as key levers of business growth. As we fast-forward to today, the chief marketing officers at consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands who I speak with continue to share the importance of these strategies in influencing customers’ decisions as they’re filling their shopping carts.
Of course there have been several important evolutions in the world of shopper marketing, most notably, a growing percentage of dollars flowing to grocers’ e-commerce sites, apps and targeted email campaigns. Given the fact that most retail media inventory is highly targetable and measurable, it’s no surprise that it’s dominating U.S. ad budgets. Retail media is expected to reach a staggering $106.12 billion by 2027, up from $45.15 billion this year, according to eMarketer.
Despite the benefits traditional retail media networks offer CPG advertisers, I’m routinely asked by CMOs how these campaigns can drive even higher returns. The advice I offer is this: Remember that in-store audiences are still 70% larger than digital retail media audiences, per data from Placer.ai and Comscore Media Metrix Multi-Platform.
For the majority of Americans, grocery shopping is still an in-store experience. To reach these shoppers, there is a benefit in digital place-based media: advertising located next to or near a point of interest, such as in a supermarket where CPG products are sold.
Place-based media provides high contextual relevance and allows brands to reach customers precisely when they are in the mindset to make a purchase.
Delivering contextual relevance
Now, this isn’t necessarily new to CMOs—stanchion signs, floor graphics and shelf talkers can all be considered forms of traditional place-based media. However, the recent rise of digital place-based media can offer advertisers new forms of value by being targetable and measurable. With this digital media, it’s possible to target specific marketing messages to shoppers and improve the chances that your product ends up in their shopping cart.
For example, a recent Dole Fresh Foods campaign was targeted to Volta’s digital out-of-home (DOOH) screens located directly outside grocery store entrances. The campaign successfully reached and influenced shoppers, delivering an 8% sales lift and increasing category share by 8.5% according to Catalina, a shopper intelligence platform.
The inclusion of digital place-based media also could keep a brand's products top-of-mind when shoppers are choosing between one option and another. The impact of a cereal brand’s endcap display could be enhanced by promoting that same breakfast product on Volta’s digital media screens just outside of the grocery store, as with the Dole example. In pairing these two tactics together, the cereal brand is priming shoppers about its product while they are on their way into the store, and then reinforcing their message and enabling a purchase with a prominent in-store display.
The reality is that not all shoppers order groceries online or routinely check promotional emails. As noted above, the overwhelming majority of grocery shoppers still visit physical brick-and-mortar locations, making place-based media a meaningful way to expand the reach of retail media efforts.
Place-based media is digitally native
It’s common for me to meet with a CMO who still believes that out-of-home (OOH) media, including place-based inventory, is primarily for driving awareness. While this remains a valuable aspect of the channel, leading media networks like Volta have led the digital revolution and upgraded the capabilities of these screens as well.
Today, CPG brands can measure the impact of digital place-based campaigns using familiar metrics from their retail media advertising efforts. Third-party data measurement firms like Catalina, Nielsen, Circana and Quotient provide such crucial advertising metrics as sales lift and incremental return on ad spend (iROAS).
Further, marketers can leverage both first-party and third-party data to focus their campaigns on screens most likely to be seen by their current and potential customers. Many DOOH platforms are accessible through programmatic buying, allowing for dynamic creative updates based on factors such as weather conditions or live sports scores.
Incorporating place-based DOOH media screens into omnichannel shopper marketing programs can provide CPG brands with an effective platform for reaching the majority of Americans who enjoy shopping at physical grocery stores. By reaching these customers at critical moments during their shopping journey, place-based media offers unparalleled contextual relevance and can influence purchase decisions effectively.
CMOs, if you want to take your team’s shopper marketing efforts to the next level, don't overlook the untapped potential of place-based digital out-of-home media screens to help make sure your product ends up in your customer’s cart.
